1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for displaying maps of anatomical brain structures, physiological and chemical topography, and other such data in combination with scanned images of individual human brains. The invention produces two-dimensional and three-dimensional displays, with maps proportioned properly according to landmarks in and around the scanned brain. The invention also permits display of a combination of two or more types of brain maps simultaneously and the archiving and cross- referencing of anatomico-physiological data in a normalized whole-brain mapping and imaging environment. This normalized mapping technique further permits the plotting, transposing and interrogation of data from various mapping sources or treatment modalities in the same imaging environment. Such examples also include but are not limited to:
1) Plotting known or scan determined metabolic and/or chemically specific regions or structures of the brain. PA1 2) Plotting known or scan determined psycho-physical regions of the brain and other such data. PA1 3) Plotting and determining the radiation dose to each area or structure of the brain during radiation treatment. PA1 4) Plotting known or scan determined electromagnetic somatotopography of the brain.
2. Background Art
The prior art discloses three primary systems for mapping the human brain, all involving reference to books and charts in order to pinpoint anatomical structures and functions or responses within individual brain scan or other images, such as, but not limited to, computerized axial tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), radioisotope imaging, and other similar digital imaging systems.
The first primary brain mapping system of the prior art is disclosed by J. Talairach & P. Tournoux, "Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain," (New York; Theieme Medical Publishers; 1988). That book places 133 anatomical structures within a three-dimensional proportional grid subdividing the human brain.
The second system of the prior art is disclosed by G. Schaltenbrand & P. Bailey, Introduction to Stereotaxis with an Atlas of the Human Brain (New York, Thieme, 1959), J. M. Van Buren & R. C. Borke, Variations and Connections of the Human Thalamus (vols. 1 & 2, New York, Springer, 1972), and G. Schaltenbrand & W. Wahren, Atlas for Stereotaxy of the Human Brain (2d ed., Stuttgart, Thieme, 1977). These references consist of magnified photographs of human brainstem slices (including thalamus and lower brainstem regions) wherein subregional or subdivisions of larger structures are indicated by line drawings which represent the microscopic boundaries between such subregions or subdivisions. These mapping systems generally have transparent plastic sheet overlays which contain the line drawings and can be superimposed over the photographs so that such subdivisions can be discerned.
The third system of the prior art is disclosed by T. Hardy, "Stereotactic CT Atlases," ch. 34 of L. D. Lunsford, ed., Modern Stereotactic Surgery (Boston, Martinus Nijhoff, 1988). This reference reports subdivisions of the brain by physiological responses according to electrical stimulation or recordings in and about the brain.
With the prior art, a brain surgeon would be required, in planning an operation (regardless whether stereotactic or otherwise), to compare scans of the patient's brain with information from the above references, and would be required to construe certain anatomical structures within the scans based upon visual interrogation of the scans and the references. Such practitioners would also be required to infer or surmise the position of various physiological brain regions. For very precise work, this might involve calculations by hand to correlate the reference brain sizes and shapes with the size and shape of the patient's brain.